Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Made this tonight, with some broccoli thrown in. Delicious!

If you've read Ruth Reichl's description of her mom's cooking - you know what kind of a cook my mother was.....she always cooked fresh and then saved it. As a result, we ate most of it as very tired leftovers. But, my dad's mom was a terrific cook and I watched her and learned true basics. she made stock and pastry and, even though she worked, a good meal as always on the table. I never cooked until I was a bride and learned by experimenting and remembered from watching Gram. I learned to shop carefully and use fresh ingredients. Now, years later, I have a great collection of cookbooks that I read for ideas. In the past few years, I have 'cooked for one" and am accumulating a written record of the things I have developed for small quantity results. I've also gone to a lot of cooking classes, including an appreticeship at a cooking school. I cook a varied selectiion of dishes andI guess that makes me a "foodie' too.

I knew as a child, around 8 years old that I wanted to spend more time with food. The first job I dreamed of having was to work in a restaurant. It looked so fun! No astronaut fantasies for me.

My parents all encouraged me to play in the kitchen, even though at first all I accomplished was making a mess. But I improved and would make up menus which I would present to my brothers so they could choose what kind of snack I might have the pleasure of preparing for them.

I also refused to eat any school cafeteria food. I made me sad and I hated it. I went hungry every day and then ran home to prepare some kind of invention for myself to eat.

@cybercita - on a related note (T-Giving)...

My aunt in Jersey was not the best turkey roaster so she used to get turkey from a caterer when she hosted T-Giving. This thing was so overcooked, it turned to sawdust when cut. One year when my mom told me we were to go to that aunt's house for T-Giving I asked if she was getting the turkey from the same place. When my mom said yes, I told her, "Call Aunt Adele and tell her I'm bringing the turkey." I LOVE TURKEY. It's my favorite part of the T-Giving meal!

I roasted two beautiful turkeys (why should we fight over only 2 drumsticks?) and schlepped them to Jersey. I wrapped them in foil, then covered them in dish towels, then in foil again and they rode in the trunk of my car. I mean to tell you they were piping hot and perfectly rested at dinner time - but the aroma wafted through the interior of the car so when my cousin and I reached Jersey, we were STARVING.

This became tradition whenever that particular aunt was hosting T-Giving and I feel like I really bucked the trend because the host ALWAYS provided the turkey and everyone else contributed sides and desserts. In her defense, turkey seemed to be about the only thing Aunt Adele couldn't cook.

The crostata idea had occurred to me. Thanks for the recipe link, "Chew on That."

Not a dessert, but I thought this fig pasta dish was divine. You could definitely throw some apples in there too, or serve it with a salad of baby greens, goat cheese and apples, or something like that.

Yum...I think I'm going to make this again this weekend!

http://www.kartme.com/recipe/egg-fettuccine-figs-rosemary-and-pancetta-recipe-epicuriouscom

Oh Kathy, don't tell people waste their money on a humdrum Mozzarella Sandwich that can be had anywhere... the unique Tuscan Vegetarian is a superb sandwich specimen!

Im expecting nothing less for my next birthday now!

I wanna see the whole cake....it looks yummy...i love brithday cake!

if it hasn't been said often enough...its beautiful!
the process of making the correct colours and their hues must have been a fun project.

I don't like cake much,
but I'm tempted by this one :)

wow! that's magical. I've also wanted to make a rainbow cake, but this goes beyond rainbow...it's more of a paint palette.

Not sure if anyone noticed, but Oikos was a sponsor at the US tennis Open. Free samples were distributed throughout the 15 days. I'm an eater of plain yogurt so was not into the blueberry, but did find it funny my sample came with recipes for Tuna Burgers, Tzatziki and Pina Coladas. Yum: tuna+blueberry.

That said, Chobani is my second favorite plan yogurt after Greek Gods.

In fairness I have to retract my original post. My wife brought a tray of these to a dinner we went to the other night. 25 for $20 dollars. About as much as you'd spend to feed the same amount of people a cake. Everyone thought they were fun. They tasted great and you could sample a couple without stuffing yourself. We'd get them again.

ps I'm still a cupcake hater :)